


A Simple Favour

by LadyAnneNeville



Series: Whumptober 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bank Robbery, Gen, Human shield, Hurt Natasha Romanov, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-29 04:29:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21133331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAnneNeville/pseuds/LadyAnneNeville
Summary: It was just a simple favour. Tony had told her. Observe the kid for a couple of weeks and then a few training sessions to fill in the gaps in his technique. There were only a few problems. Firstly, for all his talent, Spider-Man's technique was non existent, and secondly, she needed to get out of this hostage situation before she could even begin to train him.





	A Simple Favour

Everything in her railed against standing idly by. Everything inside her urged her to move, to fight, to eliminate the threat to herself and to the civilians. She didn’t. She watched the arm erratically waving the handgun around and stood placidly, hands clasping the arm wrapped around her neck just tightly enough to indicate terror.

She was going to kill Tony. A favour. A simple favour. That was what he had called it. Nice and easy. Follow the kid round his patrol route a couple of times, give him a training session or two to help cover some of the gaps in his technique. Well a training session or two certainly wouldn’t cover it. As for the gaps in his technique. It wasn’t so much that his technique had gaps as that it was non-existent. 

He was conspicuous. Conspicuous in the way he travelled, that he took selfies with people. That he cooperated with requests from the public for tricks like a performing monkey. None of that was a problem in and of itself. Spider-Man had already been adopted by New York as their local hero. Muggings and petty theft had gone down significantly in the six months he had been operating, most of that in the four months since Germany. Despite a lull in the middle that Tony wouldn’t talk about but she was nevertheless certain that it was his fault. Since Tony’s plane had gone down over Coney Island, Spider-Man had been back, and just as active as ever, if to a more predictable schedule. Three hours a night between 3pm and 6pm Sunday to Thursday, and five hours on Friday and Saturday between 7pm and midnight. There were few exceptions. It had taken her two weeks of casually watching and researching local news stories to establish this. Before Coney Island the schedule was more unpredictable but something clearly changed around then.

As much time as he spent stopping muggings and store-robbery’s, Spider-Man seemed to spend an equal amount of time giving directions, rescuing cats from trees and rooftops, finding lost dogs and bicycles, helping old ladies with their shopping and generally being a good Samaritan. It was endearing. In a way other local hero’s like Daredevil hadn’t managed to be. Part of it was probably Spider-Man’s obvious youth. The way he talked too much and made silly jokes. The way he travelled around the city it looked as though the city had become his jungle gym. A vast playground for an enhanced boy with super-strength to rival Steve, and if she was reading between the lines correctly, an intellect to rival Tony’s.

When she had met him in Germany she had pegged him as young and green. When she compared notes with Sam and Bucky she concluded early twenties at the absolute oldest. After watching him for a week she would be surprised if he were over eighteen. Part of the reason was that she had been physically close to him in Germany, and she was certain he had grown at least an inch, but probably closer to two since then. Most people had their final growth spurt around age fifteen or sixteen. She had initially hoped that was Spider-Man’s age, that or the case of a late growth spurt putting him closer to seventeen.

It took her only two days of following him on his patrol to find out his address. From that point it was two hours on google and a brief hack to discover that he was Peter Parker, aged fifteen. He would have been fourteen in Germany. At some point in the imminent future she was going to kill Tony. She didn’t know how Peter had gained his powers. She was absolutely confident that it wasn’t Tony’s fault. She was equally confident that it probably wasn’t something Peter had asked for either. The way he was choosing to patrol and help out the city spoke more to Peter’s innate goodness and care for others than his choice. Tony knew more than most about how she was raised. He knew how she felt about child soldiers. 

She was faced with a huge dilemma. Here was a child. A fifteen-year-old child who was far too strong and bright and fearless for his age. Who was using his not inconsiderable enhancements to help people, and yet he was still so vulnerable. He didn’t vary his patrol route. A trap would so easily be laid for him, and she was willing to bet that there were any number of interested parties (not least of which could be Secretary Ross) who would leap at the chance to dissect and study Peter. The fact that the effect on Peter would be to torture him was unlikely to matter to such people. His identity was vulnerable, and not nearly as secret as he hoped for. She already knew that his aunt was aware, she didn’t know how long it had taken Tony to find him, probably more easily than herself, his best friend Ned Leeds clearly knew. All someone would have to do would be to kidnap Ned, an unathletic, unenhanced teenager, and Peter would come running and do anything to save him.

Peter was so selfless that Hydra could probably kidnap Flash Thompson, the boy who bullied Peter, and he would come running. What was worse is it wouldn’t take that many days of stalking Tony to realise Peter was important to him. Iron Man and Spider-Man had been seen working together on three or four occasions now. If someone wanted to get to Tony. Peter was the way to do it.

And yet for all his vulnerability, he had so much potential. He was strong and fast. He had little skill at hand to hand so he kept his distance, focusing on disarming his opponents, on rescuing their victims, and on detaining them in a non-harmful way. His weaknesses were in technique and in predictability and those could be fixed with training. He was capable of being stealthy if he needed to, his ability to stick to the walls of buildings helped a lot with that part of the job. He was hopeless at interrogating criminals, but arguably, that worked in their favour. He shouldn’t be chasing down crime, not as a teenager. Responding to it as it happened, fair enough, but actively searching for it was a job for adults and for professionals. Whether or not he had chosen this path, he did seem to genuinely enjoy patrolling and want to help. 

Natasha found herself charmed by this kid. Intrigued by him, and, despite his shortcomings, impressed. She would consider training him, but not without a long talk with Peter, Tony and hopefully Pepper and May as well. Perhaps it was reverse sexism, but she found more progress was made when there were some level headed women to help balance out the impulsive, testosterone driven mess most of her male colleagues were capable of being. The avengers did not have the discipline and structure of Shield, and too many of it’s members were far to used to just doing as they pleased for boundaries to work unless they were actively sort out. That was part of the reason the Sokovia Accords had gone over so poorly.

All of this reconnaissance. All of this observation without making contact had led her to this moment. She had spotted three men, all armed, one heavily, all serious looking and tense. All carrying large bags that were mostly or completely empty. All approaching a bank, near closing time, which was known to keep large reserves of cash in its vault. In fact it was the central vault for ten branches of the bank within a five block radius. In the two weeks she had been observing Spider-Man, she had yet to see him in a situation with more than one assailant and more than a couple of hostages. She knew from local newspapers over the past few months that he was willing to get involved with the larger scale engagements. This was her opportunity to see it first hand. She had slipped inside the bank just ahead of the final one of the three men she had picked out. She knew Spider-Man tapped into the police scanners and trusted he wouldn’t be long. 

If needed, she could sort the situation herself. She would rather avoid that for as long as possible however. She was still a wanted woman, photostatic veil or not, her skills would give her away. She would vastly prefer it if no one knew she was stateside aside from Tony, Rhodey, Pepper and a select few others who could be thoroughly trusted.

She hadn’t taken into account that she might be the target for a human shield. In retrospect it made sense. She had become too used to her face and skills being known, to being feared and respected for her abilities. With a blond bob and a photostatic veil, what the robbers would have seen was a petite, 5’3” woman on her own, who was probably easier to handle than many of the other customers.

She stayed quiet as the gunman who held her whirled her around. Gesticulating wildly with his weapon in a way that suggested he was not entirely comfortable with using it. She found herself frustrated, a quickly bored as she waited for Spider-Man to make his appearance. She should allow a little fear to show itself on her face. She hoped her blank expression and the way she let herself be manhandled, clutching ineffectively against the arm that was pinning her to the body of her assailant, would let the terrified customers and bank workers assume she was in shock, rather than help them guess her real identity. That had taken her too this moment.

Some ten minutes after she had been taken hostage, she spotted, some movement on the ceiling. Spider-Man had arrived. Once he arrived he moved quickly, confiscating weapons including the overlarge gun her assailant had been holding, pinning the other two robbers to the floor and letting the hostages flee the bank into the waiting arms of the NYPD, who would no doubt detain them further while gathering their statements.

Her assailant, upon being disarmed, had pulled a second pistol from his belt and pressed it into her ribs. She had always been aware of this risk. From Spider-Man’s reaction this wasn’t something he had anticipated. The kid attempts to talk the guy down. Offering to help him get away. Asking him to think of his family. The man doesn’t care.

As she feels his arm tense to pull the trigger she throws her entire weight back against him and where she could have ended up with a bullet in her lower right lung, she instead gets a long deep gash across the front of her abdomen as the bullet embeds itself somewhere in the wall to her left, grazing her, but not embedding itself in her.

Spider-Man, to his credit reacts brilliantly. Within seconds he has restrained and disarmed the final guy, and is hovering over her. He swears, in a way that his teachers would be appalled by upon seeing the wound.

“It’s okay ma’am. Let me get you outside to the ambulance and you’ll be just fine.” He says as he ineffectively attempts to stem the bleeding.

“Calm down, Peter.” Spider-Man visibly starts, then immediately attempts to stutter over a lie that Peter is not his real name. The attempt is transparent.

“Stop talking.” There is enough command in her voice, and enough deference for the authority of adults in Peter’s personality, that he immediately shuts up.

“I’m wearing a photostatic veil, so it’s unsurprising you don’t recognise me, but we fought together in Germany.” Spider-Man’s eyes seemed to widen.

“Black Widow.” He half whispered, sounding like he had just encountered the coolest thing in the entire world.

“Exactly. So you’ll understand why I have no desire to get tangled up in hospitals and authorities. Use some of your web fluid to stem the bleeding and then take me to Tony. He knows I’m here. Then all three of us need to have a conversation.”

“Okay.” Peter responded. And soon the cut was held closed, at least temporarily, by some web fluid. “Can you hold on?” Peter asked. “I need at least one arm to swing and I don’t want to pull on your cut.” He offered her a hand to help her to her feet, which she took, even though she didn’t need to. With a brief hop she was clinging to his side, legs anchoring herself around his waist, arms around his neck and he instinctively wrapped his left arm around her. 

“I can hold on.” Natasha responded with a smirk. “But I’d rather leave through the roof if you don’t mind.”

“On it.” Peter said, and with a jump they were flying. That’s what it felt like at least. The air rushing around them, and for all Peter’s slightly clumsy interpersonal skills, here was an arena in which he felt completely at ease.

What felt like mere seconds later they were arriving on a penthouse balcony. Avengers tower had been sold, but Tony’s new city residence did not seem to be any less opulent. The living room was empty, but Peter wasted no time in asking Friday to let them know they were here as he lowered Natasha back to the floor. 

The person who arrived to greet them however, was not Tony at all. Instead Colonel James Rhodes stood in his new braces. And he did not look pleased to see them.

“Romanoff.” He said. His voice cold.

“Hi Rhodey. Did Tony tell you I would be here?”

“No.”

The silence was loaded.

“You’d better come in before you bleed all over the balcony.” Rhodes finally relented, and ushered Natasha and Peter inside. They would need to have a long talk indeed. The air was definitely in need of clearing.

**Author's Note:**

> I love comments. Please let me know what you think! Next chapter, the long awaited conversation between Nat and Tony, and a reconciliation between Natasha and Rhodey. The two seem so close in Infinity War and Endgame and I wanted to explore that.
> 
> Also if you're struggling to picture how Peter was carrying Natasha, it's the same way he carried MJ in the post credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home.


End file.
